Wind Concerns Ontario is a province-wide advocacy organization whose mission is to provide information on the potential impact of industrial-scale wind power generation on the economy, human health, and the natural environment.

April stats show wind power not low cost; millions spent for unneeded power in Ontario

How badly were ratepayers hit? Millions upon millions for power produced out of phase with demand…

Millions wasted in April alone

While the Canadian Wind Energy Association, the trade association for the wind power industry and vested interests, continues to maintain that wind power cannot be contributing to Ontario’s rising and unsustainable electricity bills, the facts indicate otherwise. The figures for April 2017 show wind power produced out-of-phase with demand, causing power from other, clean sources to be wasted, and wind power producers paid not to add power to the Ontario grid.

Here is Parker Gallant’s analysis.

The Independent Electricity System Operator or IESO’s 18 month outlook report uses their “Methodology to Perform Long Term Assessments” to forecast what industrial wind turbines (IWT) are likely to generate as a percentage of their rated capacity.

The Methodology description follows.

“Monthly Wind Capacity Contribution (WCC) values are used to forecast the contribution from wind generators. WCC values in percentage of installed capacity are determined from actual historic median wind generator contribution over the last 10 years at the top 5 contiguous demand hours of the day for each winter and summer season, or shoulder period month. The top 5 contiguous demand hours are determined by the frequency of demand peak occurrences over the last 12 months.”

The most recent 18-month outlook forecast wind production at an average (capacity 4,000 MW growing to 4,500 MW) over 12 months at 22.2%, which is well under the assumed 29-30 % capacity claimed by wind developers. For the month of April, IESO forecast wind generation at 33.2% of capacity.

April 2017 has now passed; my friend Scott Luft has posted the actual generation and estimated the curtailed generation produced by Ontario’s contracted IWT. For April, IESO reported grid- and distribution-connected IWT generated almost 703,000 megawatt hours (MWh), or approximately 24% of their generation capacity. Scott also estimated they curtailed 521,000 MWh or 18 % of generation capacity.

So, actual generation could have been 42% of rated capacity as a result of Ontario’s very windy month of April 2017, but Ontario’s demand for power wasn’t sufficient to absorb it! April is typically a “shoulder” month with low demand, but at the same time it is a high generation month for wind turbines.

How badly did Ontario’s ratepayers get hit? In April, they paid the costs to pay wind developers – that doesn’t include the cost of back-up from gas plants or spilled or steamed off emissions-free hydro and nuclear or losses on exported surpluses.

Wind cost=22.9 cents per kWh

For the 703,000 MWh, the cost* of grid accepted generation at $140/MWh was $98.4 million and the cost of the “curtailed” generation at $120/MWh was $62.5 million making the total cost of wind for the month of April $160.9 million. That translates to a cost per MWh of grid accepted wind of $229.50 or 22.9 cents per kWh.

Despite clear evidence that wind turbines fail to provide competitively priced electricity when it is actually needed, the Premier Wynne-led government continues to allow more capacity to be added instead of killing the Green Energy Act and cancelling contracts that have not commenced installation.

…

* Most wind contracts are priced at 13.5 cents/kilowatt (kWh) and the contracts include a cost of living (COL) annual increase to a maximum of 20% so the current cost is expected to be in the range of $140/MWh or 14cents/kWh.

Comments

1 736 000 ……
ONE million seven hundred and thirty six thousand….
homes could have had FREE HYDRO for a month….. FREE HYDRO FOR ONE MONTH….
but instead they will pay a premium for their hydro… and struggle….
TO HEAT OR TO EAT!!!!!
THAT IS THE QUESTION……
1 736 000 Ontario homes could have had FREE HYDRO for ONE MONTH!!!!

The problem is Wind and Solar are not reducing C02 and our government will not admit this costly failure. Ontario’s professional Engineers, those tasked with generation, transmission and billing, have reported the problem. our government continues to build more wind and solar.

Could someone out there please start a Facebook page or website that shows the hourly… weekly….. monthly… export of hydro to our neighbours ….. at the bottom you could have a running total of the #s of Ontario homes that could have had FREE HYDRO for a MONTH!!! Anyone??? Please …

I think after the public catches on to the numbers it might be the camel that broke the straws back!!! They’re real numbers…. average Joe Ontario like myself can’t relate to TERAWATTS … spilled hydro… megawatts…. etc… when they start seeing that they could have had FREE HYDRO for a month … then we could see some action…. maybe…. just throwing darts at the board….. anyone???

Hello taxpayers. The following article was presented by Member of Parliament, Peter Gold ring in May of 2013. 4 YEARS AGO!

Taxpayers are facing economic calamity as a result of the Ontario Liberals’ 2009 Green Energy Act (GEA). The incredible extra cost paid over Ontario’s traditional energy providers is mind boggling. The average price paid by Ontario Hydro for clean, truly green hydro power at the dam is 3 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh). The price paid for nuclear at the station is 5 cents kWh. Comparatively, the price paid by Ontario Hydro for solar power at the array is 80 cents kWh and the price paid for wind power at the farms is 13 cents kWh! Ontario Hydro then cross-subsidizes these outrageous costs, passing them on to the private power consumers of Ontario.
Ontario currently has a large surplus of power because of the Ontario Liberals’ guarantee to buy all solar and wind.power products regardless of the need and despite their rediculous cost. Ontario is forced to actually pay bordering provinces/states an average of 139 cents per kWh – paying $800 million last year alone – to take their excess energy. This is estimated to balloon ten times – to some $8 billion per year – when all planned solar and wind units under the Liberal GEA come on stream. Ontario stands to go bankrupt with this foolish plan. The municipalities don’t want wind farms so why are we doing this?
The GEA was expected to bring 40,000 jobs related to renewable energy but most are temporary jobs in construction, while tens of thousands of industrial jobs are fleeing the Ontario Liberal governance for the much more reasonable and competitive electric power rates of other provinces and states.
Ontario’s 2009 Green Energy Act is a monumental failure. Converting to energy through the implementation of countless wind turbines and solar panels, manufactured with dirty coal energy in Asia, is not in anyone’s best interest – financially, economically, environmentally, or otherwise.
What do you think?

We must learn to sing kum-by-yah!
The entire Ottawa valley and parts of the St-Lawrence watershed are in a disastrous flood situation and have been for weeks. Our elitest Liberal members decided to stay away until the army arrived. Yes, the army! Wow, photo ops for everyone now!
One french lady on the news said it best.
They showed up 10 days late with no boots or boats or breakfast but a helicopter and reporters with cameras and staff to fix their hair. What ta hell good is that? Do they send the navy to the dessert?
I don’t know if she was a volunteer or a flood victim but she is right!
These Liberals are self anointing pions and we seem to be stuck with these morons.
What to do? What to do?
Remember when windmills pumped water and we’re useful?
Stan Thayer

Take a look at how Minister Glen Murray shamefully dismissed a Huron County resident who has exhaustively reported noise, both audible and inaudible to all who are responsible…a list of more than 50 names at this point. She has been doing this diligently for almost two years!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJCxTEVJu30&feature=youtu.be
This minister obviously is incapable of performing his duty to protect.

Not surprised there Stan…. quite tipical of our government…. residents of Dutton Dunwich have tried to communicate with this government for well over a year now that we are not doing the “strong breezes wind project” in Dutton Dunwich…
the lieberals remind me of my dog that ate the box of cookies….. I ask him if he ate the cookies and he just turns his head away and looks at the ceiling!!!!! I walk around him and look at him again and he just looks at the floor…. ignoring me…. eventually I stop asking him what happened to all the cookies….
Sounds so familiar….
we here in Dutton Dunwich we have documented the thousands of requests… letters… petitions… protest letters… to halt this uneccesary… illegal…. wasteful… project… have we even had one glance our way to rectify the situation…. nope…. none…..
Wow someone took all the tires from the tire bin again…..

Ok so that’s odd…. wind only running 3 8 % of the grid!!!! Is anyone actually running this hydro shatshow!!!!! Exporting over 3000 MW per hour!!!! Is the system on cruise control or holiday weekend mode…. why are we exporting so much hydro per hour for so little!!! So frustrating understanding how many hydro customers that struggle to make ends meet and these clowns are giving it away and signing new contracts at even worst terms….
Unbelievable….

“In North America, to enact and implement state, provincial and national policies in the United States and Canada that put both countries on the path to reducing global warming pollution by at least 75 percent by 2050.”

News from the cancelled gas plant. It is way behind schedule, way over budget and no time line to completion.
The out of province contractors have all bought new trucks so I predict another win for the provincial Liberals. The expense of these gas plants and the rebuilding of the roads and Hydro infrastructure is not being added into the cost of the windmills but should be. The CanWEA people understand this and skew their information accordingly. Since they take taxpayer money as funding, they are obliged to drink the Liberal Kool-aid. The gas plants are income and sales tax money, the roads are general revenue and municipal tax money and the hydro upgrades are ratepayer funded. Simply put, the taxpayer pays for it all. Government spending is ratepayers taxing and banks lending on future taxation. So tax and spend on whatever gets you promoted is today’s modus operandi regardless of who it hurts. Shame on our elected politicians and all those that live off them.
Stan Thayer